Hiring!!!

I am looking for self-motivated PhD/Master students to join my L2Opt Group at SMU to conduct research on Learning to Optimize, where deep learning (including LLM) is exploited to solve combinatorial optimization problems, especially the vehicle routing problems. The requirement for SMU PhD admission can be found HERE. Visiting CSC students/researchers, and remote online interns are also welcome. Drop me an email if you are interested!

About Me

I am currently an Assistant Professor at the School of Computing and Information Systems (SCIS), Singapore Management University (SMU). Prior to that, I was a Scientist at the Agency for Science Technology and Research (A*STAR), a Research Assistant Professor at the National University of Singapore (NUS), and a Research Fellow at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU). I received the Ph.D from Interdisciplinary Graduate School & School of Computer Science and Engineering, and the M.Sc from School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, NTU. I received the B.Eng in Automation from Guangdong University of Technology (GDUT), China. I am leading the L2Opt Group. You may approach me at

Office: Room 5027, 80 Stamford Road, Singapore 178902

E-mail: zgcao [at] smu [dot] edu [dot] sg

Telephone: +65 6826 1341

Recently, my interests focus on Learning to Optimize (L2Opt), also known as Learning for Optimization and closely related to Neural Combinatorial Optimization (NCO), where we exploit Deep (Reinforcement) Learning (including LLM) to solve the classic Combinatorial Optimization Problems (such as Vehicle Routing Problem, Job Shop Scheduling Problem and Bin Packing Problem), Constraint Satisfaction Problem, and Integer Programming Problem. It is a hot topic for both AI and Operations Research, quite interesting yet challenging. Welcome to use our CODE and reach out for collaboration.

Artificial Intelligence: Deep Reinforcement Learning, Deep Learning, Large Language Model (LLM)

Combinatorial Optimization: Routing, Scheduling, Packing; (Mixed) Integer Programming

Applications: Logistics, Transportation, Robotics

News

04.2024: One paper on L2Opt got accepted by IJCAI, where we proposed cross-problem learning for different VRP variants.

03.2024: Our project - Learning Assisted Human-AI Collaboration for Large-scale Practical Combinatorial Optimization, was awarded by AISG.

03.2024: YI Hang joined the L2Opt Group as a research engineer.

03.2024: One paper on L2Opt got accepted by SMCA, where we proposed dynamic algorithm selection based on reinforcement learning.

02.2024: Two papers on L2Opt got accepted by TNNLS, where we solved VRPs with backhauls and multi-objective VRPs using DRL, respectively.

02.2024: I was invited to serve as Area Chair for KDD'24.

01.2024: I was invited to serve as Area Chair for ICML'24.

01.2024: I gave a talk on Learning to Solve Vehicle Routing Problems to HuaWei (Online).

01.2024: One paper on L2Opt got accepted by ICLR'24, where we solved JSSP using DRL based improvement heuristic.

01.2024: One paper on L2Opt got accepted by T-ASE, where we solved large-scale UAV routing using DRL based divide-and-conquer.

01.2024: One paper on L2Opt got accepted by T-ITS, where we solved stochastic shortest path problem using actor-critic based RL.

12.2023: One paper on L2Opt got accepted by AAMAS'24, where we solved multi-objective VRPs, including MOTSP and MOCVRP.

12.2023: One paper on L2Opt got accepted by AAAI'24, where we solved large-scale VRPs (including TSP, ATSP, CVRP, and PCTSP) in real-time.

10.2023: I gave a talk on Learning to Solve Vehicle Routing Problems to Nanjing University (Online).

09.2023: Six papers on L2Opt got accepted by NeurIPS'23.

09.2023: LIU Yunduo and LIAO Shubing joined the L2Opt Group as visiting students.

07.2023: I joined the School of Computing and Information Systems, SMU, as an Assistant Professor.